Subscription, Billing, Cancellation and Refund Policy

Version: 2026-08-03

Effective date: 3 August 2026

This Policy forms part of the MuthoCommerce Merchant Terms. It applies to paid plans, free trials, usage charges, plan changes, cancellation, refunds, failed payments, and data treatment after a store is deactivated. Capitalised terms have the meanings in the Merchant Terms.

1. Price disclosure

Before Merchant confirms a purchase, MuthoCommerce will show:

• the plan, billing interval, recurring price, currency, and applicable taxes;
• whether the subscription automatically renews and when the first paid charge is due;
• included usage and the unit price or calculation method for any overage;
• separately priced add-ons;
• whether a feature is beta, early access, or requires activation; and
• material third-party fees known to be separate from MuthoCommerce fees.

An invoice or receipt will identify MuthoCommerce, Merchant, billing period, plan, tax treatment, discounts, credits, usage charges, and amount paid or due. MuthoCommerce will not add a paid feature merely because Merchant viewed or tested it.

2. Fourteen-day trial

Eligible Core and Growth stores receive a 14-day trial unless checkout clearly states a different offer. No payment card is required for the standard trial. The trial does not automatically become paid: Merchant must affirmatively select and authorise a paid plan.

When the trial ends without paid activation, the store enters a 7-day grace period. During grace, the Owner may activate a plan, export available data, or request support. MuthoCommerce will stop new order capture no later than the end of grace. At the end of grace, the store is suspended. Suspension is not a promise to retain data indefinitely. For a trial that was never converted to paid, this suspension is the deactivation date: the 30-day recovery/export period in section 10 starts then.

MuthoCommerce may limit or end a trial used for fraud, abuse, repeated trial creation, or conduct prohibited by the Acceptable Use Policy. Ending an abusive trial does not create a right to paid-plan benefits.

3. Renewal and authorisation

A paid subscription starts only after affirmative purchase or a signed Order Form. Unless the purchase screen or Order Form says it is non-renewing, it renews for the same billing interval until cancelled. Merchant authorises MuthoCommerce and its billing provider to charge the selected payment method for recurring fees, disclosed usage, taxes, and approved add-ons.

Monthly plans renew on the displayed billing date. Annual plans renew annually. MuthoCommerce will send an annual renewal reminder at least 14 days before charging the renewal, identifying the renewal date, plan, price then scheduled, and cancellation route. A price increase follows the material-change notice rule and will not be applied retroactively to a completed billing period.

4. Usage and overages

Orders or other metered units are counted using the definition shown on the pricing page or Order Form. A completed order must not be counted twice because of retries, webhooks, edits, or duplicate event delivery. Cancelled, test, or fraudulent orders are excluded when the disclosed metric says “completed order.” Merchant may inspect the basis of a disputed usage charge.

If Merchant approaches a limit, MuthoCommerce will give an in-product or email notice where operationally practicable. A hard limit will not be silently converted into an overage charge. Any overage rate must be disclosed before the relevant usage is incurred. MuthoCommerce subscription fees do not include gateway, courier, SMS, email, domain, or other third-party charges unless expressly stated.

5. Upgrades, downgrades, and annual pricing

An authorised Owner may upgrade immediately. Before confirmation, MuthoCommerce will show the effective date and any pro-rated charge or credit. A downgrade normally takes effect at the next renewal, so the higher plan remains available through the already-paid period. MuthoCommerce will identify features, limits, stored content, or workflows affected by the downgrade before confirmation.

Annual pricing described as “two months included” means the annual total equals ten times the then-current monthly base price, unless a different annual total is displayed. It is a billing discount, not two additional months beyond a twelve-month term. Annual fees are prepaid and remain subject to the refund rules below.

6. Cancellation

The Owner may cancel automatic renewal at any time before the next charge is submitted. Cancellation must be available through the authenticated account. Until that control is released, MuthoCommerce must accept an authenticated written request through the designated billing channel, acknowledge it within one business day, and provide a dated cancellation receipt.

Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid billing period. Merchant keeps the paid plan until then, remains responsible for usage and third-party charges already incurred, and will not be charged a new subscription period. Removing a payment method, abandoning a store, or disputing a charge is not cancellation.

MuthoCommerce may offer an immediate deactivation option, but must show that it does not create an additional refund before Merchant confirms. MuthoCommerce will not cancel or downgrade a store based solely on a request from a staff user who lacks Owner authority.

7. Pause

MuthoCommerce does not currently offer a subscription pause, hibernation, or temporary storage-only plan. Merchant should cancel renewal and export required records. Support must not promise a pause, frozen price, or indefinite data retention unless a signed Order Form expressly provides it.

8. Refunds and credits

Merchant receives the no-card trial to evaluate ordinary plan functionality. Paid subscription, usage, overage, and add-on fees are therefore non-refundable after payment except when:

1. MuthoCommerce charged the same amount more than once or charged a different amount from the amount authorised;
2. MuthoCommerce charged a renewal after a valid cancellation received before the charge was submitted;
3. MuthoCommerce permanently discontinues the paid Service during a prepaid term without a reasonably equivalent replacement;
4. a material reduction qualifies for termination under section 2 of the Merchant Terms;
5. MuthoCommerce confirms that its own failure made the core paid Service substantially unusable and it cannot restore the Service within a commercially reasonable time; or
6. applicable law requires a refund.

For items 3–5, the refund is limited to unused prepaid recurring fees for the affected Service after the effective termination date. It excludes usage already consumed and third-party charges. No refund or credit is due for unused time after a voluntary mid-cycle cancellation, a scheduled downgrade, Merchant error, prohibited conduct, an unsupported configuration, or an outage caused by Merchant or an independent payment, courier, telecom, social, domain, or other connected provider. Mandatory law prevails.

A billing-error claim must be submitted within 14 days after the invoice or charge, unless law allows longer. Merchant must identify the store, invoice, disputed amount, reason, and supporting record. MuthoCommerce will acknowledge the claim within one business day, investigate objectively, and issue a written decision. An approved refund will be initiated to the original payment method within 10 days; the bank or gateway may require additional processing time. MuthoCommerce will not require Merchant to waive statutory rights or withdraw a truthful complaint as a refund condition.

Promotional credits have no cash value, are non-transferable, expire as disclosed, and are applied before a cash refund calculation unless law requires otherwise.

9. Failed payments

If a renewal payment fails, MuthoCommerce may retry the authorised method and will notify the Owner of the amount, failure, retry route, and service impact. Merchant has 7 days from the original due date to pay an undisputed amount. No late fee will be charged unless it was disclosed before purchase.

After the 7-day period, MuthoCommerce may suspend paid features and new order capture. MuthoCommerce will preserve access to billing information, support, and an available data export route unless security, law, or abuse risk prevents it. MuthoCommerce may terminate the subscription after 30 days of non-payment upon a final notice. Reinstatement may require payment of valid outstanding amounts, but MuthoCommerce will not invent an undisclosed reactivation fee.

Merchant must promptly raise a good-faith billing dispute and pay undisputed amounts. MuthoCommerce will not suspend solely for the genuinely disputed portion while Merchant cooperates with the investigation, unless continued service creates material fraud or loss risk.

10. Deactivation, recovery, export, and deletion

At the end of a cancelled term, or when a trial/non-payment termination becomes effective:

1. the public storefront is deactivated and must not accept new orders;
2. ordinary staff access ends;
3. the verified Owner receives restricted recovery and export access for 30 days, unless immediate restriction is required for security, abuse, or law;
4. Merchant may reactivate during that period by resolving outstanding eligibility and payment requirements; and
5. after 30 days, active store content and Merchant Personal Data are queued for deletion or irreversible anonymisation under the DPA and internal retention schedule.

Merchant must export records it is legally required to retain before the recovery period ends. MuthoCommerce may retain a limited account tombstone, policy acceptance, invoice, tax, payment, complaint, security, abuse, and audit record for six years, or longer only when a specific legal hold or mandatory period applies. Retained records are access-restricted and are not used for advertising.

Deletion from active systems does not mean every encrypted disaster-recovery copy is rewritten immediately. Residual copies remain isolated, unavailable for normal use, and protected by the same controls. MuthoCommerce will delete or make them practically inaccessible through the applicable documented backup-rotation schedule, targeted within 90 additional days after active-system deletion where MuthoCommerce controls that schedule. If a subprocessor's fixed recovery cycle applies, the copy remains blocked from ordinary restoration and use until that cycle securely overwrites it. If data is restored for disaster recovery, an already valid deletion instruction must be re-applied before ordinary processing resumes.

MuthoCommerce may preserve evidence required for fraud, security, legal claims, regulator orders, or another lawful hold. Only the affected data is held, access is limited, and deletion resumes when the hold ends. MuthoCommerce will not use a legal hold as a reason to keep an entire store indefinitely.

11. MuthoCommerce termination without Merchant breach

If MuthoCommerce terminates a prepaid subscription for convenience rather than Merchant breach, non-payment, law, or urgent risk, MuthoCommerce will give at least 30 days' notice, provide a reasonable export opportunity, and refund unused prepaid recurring fees after termination. This section does not require MuthoCommerce to continue an unlawful or unsafe service.

12. Payment disputes and chargebacks

Merchant should use the billing-dispute process before initiating a chargeback so MuthoCommerce can correct an error promptly. This does not waive any bank, card, gateway, or statutory right. MuthoCommerce may submit accurate transaction, acceptance, cancellation, usage, and communication records to the payment provider. A chargeback does not cancel renewal unless Merchant also completes the cancellation process.

MuthoCommerce will not retaliate against a Merchant for a good-faith complaint or lawful consumer or regulatory filing. Fraudulent chargebacks or falsified evidence may be treated as prohibited conduct.